By Amanda Tonoli
In addition to Tonoli Talk in The Jambar, I will now be doing a blog alongside it. In light of my expected graduation in May of this year, I thought it was best to share both my sometimes-hilarious life experience and wisdom discovered in my time here at Youngstown State University with my legions of doubtlessly loyal readers.
The topic that I thought was most important would obviously come first — the topic of napping. I love naps. If I had to list my hobbies on a dating website they would include: napping. I love napping way more than I love people. I love napping more than socializing — more than anything really. That’s all that would be on my list. I may include eating Cheetos too.
In “The science behind power naps, and why they’re so damn good for you,” published on September 2013 in the Daily Explainer, George Dvorsky acknowledges these sleep deficits — he reports that almost a third of people are not getting enough sleep— and how to deal with them.
“Unlike 85% of all mammalian species, humans sleep just once a day,” Dvorsky said. “Power naps can alleviate our so-called sleep deficits, but they can also boost our brains, including improvements to creative problem solving, verbal memory, perceptual learning, object learning, and statistical learning.”
In addition to helping us cognitively, Dvorsky said that naps help improve our moods and psychological states, leading to better health overall.
Richard Wiseman published “How to feel refreshed even after too little sleep — and why you MUST have an afternoon nap. Never wake up tired again” in March 2014 on the dailymail.co.uk. Wiseman confirms Dvorsky’s claims, saying putting your head down for a few minutes boosts productivity and mental health.
“Napping will improve your memory, reaction time, and productivity,” Wiseman said. “Napping is often seen as a form of laziness. Nothing could be further from the truth.”
The Exxon Valdez disaster in 1989 that destroyed surrounding wildlife and habitat — in which a tanker spilled millions of gallons of crude oil of the coast of Alaska — is used as an example in Wiseman’s article as sleep deprivation playing a major role in such an event — specifically through the actions, or lack of actions, of the workers manning the dangerous equipment.
“Similar investigations have revealed that sleep deprivation played a key role in several other catastrophes, including Three Mile Island, the Challenger Space Shuttle disaster, and the Chernobyl meltdown,” Wiseman said.
So to avoid causing catastrophic disasters or chewing out your boss on a bad day, take a nap — specifically the scientifically recommended 90-minute nap — to rejuvenate your senses and prevent your fifth mental breakdown of this semester.
